All that means is that its the 17th issue of the series, not part 17 in a larger story. Northlanders is a series of unconnected mini-series, and this one is a done-in-one story. So here I am suggesting/asking/imploring any and everyone to give it a look. Warren's seen it, seemed to think it wasn't utter shit, and you can get a look at some pages here.

Art is by Vasilis Lolos and Dave McCaig. In it I present two Norsemen locked in single combat, a duel of champions on a frozen beach, and in slowing the fight down I manage to comment on, dissect (and poke fun at) some few hundred years of Viking warfare and tactics. I told Vasilis to channel his inner Vagabond and he delivered some great art, all energy and fluidity and spazziness.

This issue is the first in a string of single- and double-issue stories, all of them points you can jump on and test the series out. Next one is a 2-parter drawn by Danijel Zezelj and is about Viking wives, and the one after that is a one-shot that checks back in with the main character in the first story in the series.

I'm new here and followed your twitter feed over, but since you asked, I'm the penciller/inker on the original Graphic Novel , Cancertown: An Inconvenient Tooth, from Insomnia publications. We're having an Irish/Northern Irish launch this coming Saturday (30th May) in Forbidden Planet Belfast. It should be available in all the Forbidden Planet International stores in the Uk almost immediately after. That kinda counts as having a new book out this week doesn't it?

Theres a good bit of art on the link above and more details of the launch on my own blog. I'm not sure whats socially accepted over here, but I can stick a bit of art in another post if you'd like to see a bit.

This Is A Souvenir Songs Of Spearmint & Shirley Lee GN from Image Comics.

Remember Spearmint? XFM-friendly indie band from a few years ago? No? That's okay, no one does. Apart from Image publisher Eric Stephenson, who gathered the few comics creators who had heard of them to take their songs and turn them into comic book stories. Which is how I got my first front-of-Previews gig, in that I'd actually heard of them. As had my artist, of "Sleaze Castle" fame, Terry Wiley.

There are plenty of other creators who have worked on the book. Including Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, Tony Lee, Frank Beaton, Ryan Stark, Chyanna Chugston-Florres, Scott Mills, Jamie S Rich and more. But they can plug themselves.

Yesterday was the last Lying In The Gutters. But a good gossipmonger never dies. He just goes from a weekly column to a daily blogsite.

Bleeding Cool will feature everything you love and hate about Lying In The Gutters, but every day, reacting to topical news and featuring a host of columns, features, interviews, reviews, previews and.... let's go with familiar names. Expect real innovation.

It's funded by Avatar Press, who have promised a hands-off editorial process, but whom I'll give an Avatar Plug Of The Week to to keep them happy.

Not that the world needs another book *about* comics, but they're getting one, anyway. COMIC BOOKS 101 is in stores this week. I co-wrote the book with Scott Tipton. It originally sprung out of his Comics 101 column that he's been running since the days I ran Movie Poop Shoot for Kevin Smith. But the book turned into something much more along the way. It serves as not only a primer to the industry for people new to it or who only know comic books through Hollywood films, but it also is filled with facts, trivia, personal asides and contributions from many established pros like Clive Barker, Gene Simmons, Mark Waid, Paul Dini, Joe Casey, and others. Stan Lee provided an intro for the book, and Harlan Ellison -- who turns 75 today, in fact -- wrote a new 1,500-word essay for the book's outro. It covers the history of comics, the major characters, creators and publishers who formed the business, and has over 100 full-color illustrations (thanks again for the help, every-publisher-but-DC). LOCKE & KEY's Gabriel Rodriguez provided the book's cover, too.

It's a 288-page thing, published by IMPACT Books, and I have no idea what sort of life it'll have in comics shops, but it'll be at the major bookstores to some degree, too, and is also in stock at Amazon.com. More info on the 101 book and a preview of some pages can be found here and Amazon.com has more up with their "Look Inside" feature.

It's not a comic but my second book is in the shops in the UK this weekend. It has...erm... some pictures/icons in it so I'm gonna bully myself into this funny-book discussion (until Warren deletes me). Hopefully it'll also be in Tesco's soon. It's also available as a completely free Creative Commons download and eventually a free audiobook

Out this week is Farscape: D'Argo's Lament #2, written by Keith R.A. DeCandido (that's me) with art by Neil Edwards. It's the second of a four-issue miniseries that -- unlike the "main" Farscape series by me and series creator Rockne S. O'Bannon that are continuing the story forward after The Peacekeeper Wars -- flash back to an earlier time. In this case, when D'Argo was alive, since he's a fun character, but he's kind of unavailable to us, having died in PKW.

So we're doing D'Argo's Lament, which takes place during the third season, and features D'Argo and Jool, who go in search of a substance Moya needs to survive, and wind up being embroiled in a conflict on a moon caught up in a gang war.

There are previews up on Comics Continuum and Comic Book Resources that have pages 2-7 and the two covers.

BONE CHILLER, a Bronze medalist in the 2009 Independent Publisher Book Awards, is now available at HeavyInk.

Here's what the judges had to say:

"Good stuff, well-written and well-drawn. Good gory fun!"

"A real grab-bag of chilling tales, written with a good sense of humor and great timing."

"I like the variety of artists. This is a fun book."

Also available is THE NIGHT PROJECTIONIST NOIR, a vampire series from Studio 407 in the vein of "30 Days of Night" meets "Scream." NP film rights have been picked up by Myriad Pictures (Kinsey, The Good Girl, Jeepers Creepers2).

Hi-WildC.A.T.S. #11 from Wildstorm is out this week with part one of a two-part short story written by Christos Gage and drawn by me. The story tells how the recently deceased Deathblow ended up alive again and starring in the current Stormwatch series. Below is the cover art by Neil Googe(I'm assuming) and a nice subtle little pencilled page from our story...--Chris

I love pretty much everything you've done so far. But since I trade wait, it's a bitch not being totally up-to-date with DMZ and the like.

Quick question, though. A few months ago on CBR I read that you said the rights to Channel Zero reverted back to you and to look for an announcement on the future of the project. Just curious if you planned on re-releasing it and if so, how (maybe with Jennie One or something) and when.

@Stephen Downey:

Sucks that you don't have U.S distribution yet, but I e-mailed Nichola and ordered it direct from you guys. Hope I'll be getting it soon!

@Jacen:

I need to give you and Garth a massive amount of uppers in the hopes that you don't sleep for 4 weeks and finish up the series much quicker. I've enjoyed most of Crossed (

I did think the one issue with the child murder was a bit shocking for the sake of being shocking